Made in China

If you want to convince someone that India is not as populated as everyone says it is, and that the streets aren’t really that crowded, just get them to come outside when there’s a cricket match going on.

Sunday afternoon was the ICC match of India vs. Pakistan, so most every man, woman, child and cow was inside watching India wish Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t injured. Sachin plays for India. India eventually lost. But Louis and I kept going.

Saturday morning, while the rest of the country was (literally, it was on the news) praying for the cricket team, we went out to see the largest statue of Ganesh Ji in the state. Which is, conveniently, a 15 minute walk away.

Walk for a further 5 min, and you get to the IMAX theatre. Louis and I made plans to see “Dhoom” on Saturday, the Indian fast-and-the-furious knockoff that’s on top of the Indian box office right now. Ankur says it’s a must-see. Our buddies from the guest house (below) said they agree.

Who says you can’t still be multicultural while in India. Over this weekend we’ve plowed through 4 episodes of a rocking Japanese hockey-drama, and at night we turned the tables on the TCS Guest House staff and made dinner for them. Louis took the wheel and whipped up some awesome Chinese dishes, while I did my magic of cracking eggs and taking pictures.

So from karaoke to Rajasthan and right back to Ganesh Ji and Chinese cooking, we’ve had our share of variety this weekend. But it’s satisfying heading back to work, getting back to business, and – most of all – convincing the TCS coffee-machine-operator that really, I think I can do the button-pushing all by myself.

At lunch I had a chocolate eclair for dessert, and they didn’t give me a spoon. Maybe we’re having a positive effect on our new home after all.

Not so Lost in Translation

Finding a place to eat Friday night, on our way home from work, turned out to be no problem at all. Louis is the expert on all things Chinese, so when we saw that “Mainland China”, a fancy Indo-Chinese restaurant, is right across the street from us, we knew where we had to eat.

Could anyone in the restaurant besides Louis speak Chinese? No. Was it authentic Chinese food? Not really. But was it good? You bet. Even the chopsticks had their own uniform. Can’t beat that.

Well, actually you can. By heading to a retro lounge after dinner. Just down the road from our guest house is “Fusion 9″, a restaurant-lounge hangout for Hyderabad’s coolest university crowd. (And TCS coops, of course)

There was no retro music on Friday night, because it turns out that every Friday night is karaoke. So in walked Louis and I, shook hands with the bouncer, met the owner, and then took a seat.

Have you seen Lost in Translation? There’s this scene when Bill Murray’s singing in a glass karaoke booth with a bunch of new friends from Japan. So as we sat in our windowed room, overlooking Hyderabad while hearing karaoke, it wasn’t hard to make a connection.

Beside us was a group our age, so we introduced ourselves. A girl said she was up to sing next, so I asked her what her song would be. “How you remind me”, she said, “is what we’ll be doing”.

“We’ll?”

Five minutes later, I’m dragged to the front of the room to do my best impression of Nickelback with a stranger I just met. Is it a good song for a duet? Not at all. Did we we do the song justice? Far from it. But did we have an awesome time?

Combine getting me to sing, Louis to dance, and both of us getting to hang out with an awesome group of people, and I think you have your answer. Rock on, Hyderabad.

Donuts with spoons

Choloate donuts are a new addition to the TCS cafeteria. The whole concept itself might be new, because when you get your donut they give you a spoon with it. Louis tried using the spoon but gave up after like 2 seconds. I could make some deep observation about the introduction of foreign concepts in a new culture and one’s perception of their adoption, but I just wanted to say that “donuts with spoons” would make an excellent name for a rock band.

Me and Dan

Sitting beside the winner of the funniest card of the night award

Rainforest Cafe

Good times at Rainforest Cafe…just gotta improve my photography skills a bit!

When in Tallahasee…